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The so-called Peace Talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority have broken down just months after they started over a number of issues, in particular the building of illegal Israeli settlements. Khaled Meshaal, a prominent political leader of Hamas, the militant Palestinian party, was among the most vocal opponents of the process. Meshaal is one of several prominent figures in the Middle East interviewed by US based journalist Reese Erlich and is featured in his brand new book Conversations with Terrorists: Middle East Leaders on Politics, Violence, and Empire. In addition to Meshaal, Erlich explores the politics of the Middle East and Muslim world through figures like the Zionist leader Geula Cohen, the Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, the late Grand Ayatollah of Lebanon Mohammad Fadlallah, a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard-turned democracy activist Mohsen Sazegara, and a top Taliban leader now working with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Mohammad Nizami. Through his extensive research, first-hand interviews, and years of experience reporting from the Middle East, Reese Erlich brings us views from a region we are constantly at war with but know little about. With a foreword by former CIA field officer Robert Baer, and an afterword by Noam Chomsky, Reese Erlich’s book Conversations with Terrorists is, as Medea Benjamin says “a fascinating journey inside the heads and homes of those we are taught to hate and fear… Erlich’s book is a must-read for all who want to live in a world where we rely on diplomacy, not war, to resolve our differences.”

GUEST: Reese Erlich, investigative reporter, broadcast journalist, author of The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis, and Conversations with Terrorists: Middle East Leaders on Politics, Violence, and Empire

Find out more at www.reeseerlich.com.